Thursday, May 26, 2011

You thought Dockhand couldn't get any more unruly? Try Cantankerous Dockhand. This version comes in at 6.7% ABV and has a smooth, smokey aroma with full-bodied, silky chocolate and chili taste. The hints of heat and roasty, sweet malt profile compliment the chilies and cacao.

Monday, May 23, 2011

We’ve released (512)ALT this year and we are very excited about how well it turned out. Our Head Brewer, Nate, and the tireless (512) production crew tweaked it a touch in the spirit of continuous improvement and waited on it a bit longer to give it a look and flavor that’s really outstanding. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the style, check here for our description or just try it and see what you think. If it’s not available yet where you regularly enjoy (512), please ask for it.

PLUS . . . about this year's anniversary release:

We’re excited about the beers we plan to release this summer too. We’re gearing up for our third anniversary beer, (512) THREE (still a secret creation- but a new style), and in anticipation, we’re planning to re-release (512) ONE and (512) TWO in sequence first. Thanks for the continued support and thanks for drinking local fresh draft!

Driving sucks. Road trips always seem like a good idea. The road sucks. I was on my sixth hour last night, almost back in town. I spotted a Day's Inn sign. I thought, Shit, that looks like the Green Flash logo. Yeah, not so much, but there are some similarities.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Watermill Wheat: A straight forward, easy drinking, golden colored wheat ale whose crisp bready notes are balanced by a mild hop character and a subtle fruitiness from our house yeast.

1855 Pale Ale: An assertive American style pale ale in which mild caramel notes showcase the citrusy character of the iconic hop varieties of the Pacific Northwest.

Locked Antler Amber: A medium bodied, copper colored ale where rich malt flavors from Munich and a variety of crystal malts are enhanced by a blend of continental and English hops.

Texas Weather Tap: Our brewer’s choice offering which, like our infamous Texas weather, can change at a moments notice and range from mild to extreme. Selections will no doubt include the boldest of IPAs and the biggest of stouts, but will also feature the traditional styles of Germany and England as well as experimental and hybrid styles influenced by the irreverent ales of Belgium. Check in routinely to see what the weather has in store for you.

Monday, May 16, 2011

In the fall of 2007 my wife and I traveled through Europe for 10 weeks. We ate a lot of food and drank of a lot of beer (and wine). Not enough food, not enough beer. First beers on the Belgian mainland:Euro Beer #11 - Le Royalty

While traveling, arriving in new cities is always confusing and disorienting. It's also the time when you are most likely to get into fights with your travel partner(s). Your lost, your hungry, your schlepping your bags, yada yada yada. Luckily it was still early on in the trip and we were still fresh and happy. But it was still disorienting. Our host lived close by and we eventually found our way over to his flat. I had to call him first and make sure he was home. His name was Yves and we had never met him before this:

"Hello, is this . . . Yah-ves?"" . . . uh, yes, . . . this is Eve.""Hi, this is Aaron, just wanted to check if you are home we are on our way over.""Yes, come on up."

Then of course I yelled at Sofia for allowing me to sound like a complete idiot. "Hello, Yves saint Laurent! Sofia you are supposed to know this stuff! I can't believe I just called him Yah-ves! Yah-ves? Ugh, I'm a moron!"Yves was perfectly kind and never mentioned my faux pas. He was actually quite knowledgeable about beer and schooled me on lambics, a subject I only had limited knowledge about before leaving on this trip. After talking for awhile, we set out for a beer before dinner. We walked aimlessely. It was Sunday evening and most everything was closed. We finally stumbled upon Le Royalty, a small, then empty bar off the Place du Grand Sablon. We slugged down two beers–a Bellevue Kriek and a Westmalle Triple.

Friday, May 13, 2011

We've been putting the final touches on the plans for our upcoming expansion project. If all goes according to plan, in the next few months we'll proceed with the construction of a new warehouse and a new packaging hall.

We are also pleased to announce that we'll be working with award winning Lake/Flato architects out of San Antonio on our new tasting room and events center. We're big fans of their work and can't wait to see what they come up with.

.....

15th Anniversary Ale - it's official and it's in the tank, this year our Anniversary Ale is a formidable Russian Imperial Stout. We brewed it last week and all indications are that it will more than live up to its reputation - dark, powerful, complex, mysterious. A truly majestic ale for this momentous occasion......

Here's the latest word on the Mysterium Verum program straight from the cellar:- Erik is fairly certain that our first bourbon barrel aged offering is almost ready. This yet to be named Porter (no coffee) has really developed some nice qualities from the bourbon barrel.

- There is Highlander and Kraken currently aging in barrels but it is still too soon to know when those will be ready for release.

- Now that the Lost Gold IPA is brewed all year there will be more Empire (barrel-aged IPA) available in the near and far future.

- We have a Mysterium Verum in a steel tank for the first time and it's doing some interesting things. More info as soon as we know more.- Still no official word yet on when MV will be in bottles. We are definitely exploring all of our format options.

Thursday, May 19thOmmegang glass free with purchase of Gnomegang or Rare Vos. Free cheese sample with Rare Vos. The brewery rep. will also be sampling Hennepin.

Friday, May 20thLeft Hand Brewing Co. will debut Sawtooth Nitro to Texas + get a free glass with Sawtooth, Milk Stout or TNT Weizenbock, Free cheese sample with Sawtooth and the brewery rep. will be sampling Stranger Pale Ale. PLUS for Firkin Friday we will tap a cask of Jester King Black Metal.

Saturday, May 21st

Austin Beerworks first tapping. The brewery boys from up Burnet (sorry) will have their first beer to sell and be here to answer questions about their wares. Come out and taste Austin's newest beers!

Antonelli's Cheese Shop pairs cheese for us. If you like their work, check out their shop on Duval. They have an amazing selection.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

This Saturday, May 14th, and every Saturday thereafter (unless you hear otherwise), our brewery and tasting room will be open to the general public from 1-4pm. $10 gets you a tour and a souvenir glass to take home. Of course, we'll also have some of our beer available for sampling (for which your souvenir glass will come in handy), though we're actually struggling a bit to keep up with production right now, so the selections this week may be somewhat limited. We'll have a keg or two of Wytchmaker and a bit of Black Metal, which we're hoping will be enough to get us through the day, and should be, provided that we're not descended upon by droves of thirsty fans the moment we open the gates. Just to be safe, we're limiting attendance to 100 guests, but we're expecting a pretty light turnout the first time around, so we're not anticipating that this will be a problem.

Damn, that is a hideous label. But who cares about the label when you are drinking from a keg. Draught House has (had?) one and it was tapped on Saturday. It was the only keg of the stuff sold in Texas, so you better get there today to try some.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Weedwacker will be released next week on draft. Package will not be available until June. You will hopefully be seeing Weedwacker pop up in a lot of your favorite pubs and restaurants starting next week, especially since we are having a Summer Pils shortage (we sold more Summer Pils in the first two weeks of its release this year than we did over the first two months of its release last year - we won't be caught up on Summer Pils production until late May since it takes 6 weeks to make this beer).

When the packaged Weedwacker becomes available in June, it will be replacing Texas Wheat. Yes, we know that this is a favorite of many of you, but it is by far our slowest selling beer and we hope that you will find Weedwacker to be a much more exciting replacement. The last batch of Texas Wheat is being packaged late this week so it should be available through May.

Per TABC, we can't tell you which bar we're starting at or what bars we are planning on crawling to. We're thinking 5-7 stops, ending on Rainey St, so there is going to be some serious crawling involved.

Sidenote: No one likes to wait to get a brew, so bring cash, it'll speed up the ordering at each spot.

In the fall of 2007 my wife and I traveled through Europe for 10 weeks. We ate a lot of food and drank of a lot of beer (and wine). Not enough food, not enough beer. En route to Brussels from London:

Euro Beer #10 - Eurostar

Damn, Duvel is good. Always loved it. It was a great first beer to have in Belgium. Actually we were not yet in Belgium, we were on the Eurostar, somewhere between London and Brussels. I guess we split this lunch, not sure. It's possible, it was still early in the trip and we were still being very cheap. Either way, the beer was perfect and that ham and cheese panini was actually quite tasty for train food. If you ever find yourself on the Eurostar, go for this paring. If you hate it, you can punch me in the stomach.

Monday, May 2, 2011

I am still not sure what these rankings mean (happy idiot). I don't know who wikio is or what they do. Craft Austin got into the top 30 for May, so I guess that is good. Who wants to celebrate? Maybe I should start a ranking systems for blogs. It would be easy. Top three would always be Craft Austin, My Last Pint and Austin Beer Guide. I'd even throw BTA a bone and put them in the top 25 or so.